Rams officials distance team from Ty Nsekhe after controversial tweets

St. Louis Rams officials released a statement Tuesday distancing the team from former player Ty Nsekhe, who appeared to be bashing the military Monday on Twitter.

"On Monday, numerous media outlets published reports regarding comments made on Twitter by Ty Nsekhe, a former Rams offensive lineman. Many of these reports mistakenly identified Nsekhe as a current member of the Rams organization. Nsekhe was released by the team on August 31, 2013 and no longer has any affiliation with the St. Louis Rams," the statement said.

"While it is typically not our policy to comment on players who are no longer with our team, in this instance we thought it was important due to the reprehensible comments toward our military. The opinions Nsekhe shared via social media are his own and are completely contradictory to the values of our organization and the priority we place on military and veteran appreciation.

"The St. Louis Rams are grateful for the sacrifices our military and their families make in order to defend our freedom and protect our great nation. The Rams have a longstanding commitment to our military and veterans and that commitment has only been strengthened under Head Coach Jeff Fisher, a passionate supporter of the military and everything that they represent. We find it deplorable that anyone would express any feelings other than extreme gratitude for the service that our country’s military provides."

Nsekhe, an offensive tackle whose NFL experience is limited to two games with the Rams last season, responded to a tweet by someone named Morgan Reed. Both tweets appear to have been deleted, but the Washington Times posted a screenshot of them (see above).

Reed had expressed disbelief that football players make so much more money than members of the military, to which Nsekhe replied that there's not much skill required to kill someone. When the backlash started, Nsekhe responded to one person, "[Y]ou must be in the military, huh," according to the Washington Times.

Nsekhe has since backtracked via Twitter.

In no way were my comments meant to demean the members of our US armed forces.